Sanso Kannawaen
山荘 神和苑
Does Sanso Kannawaen allow tattoos? In a private bath
Two private sources feed a bath in all 50 rooms, undiluted, and the inn writes its tattoo refusal for the large bath into the same page that describes the mystic blue water there.
Kannawaen turns tattooed guests away from its large bath and says so on its own bath page, naming tattoos alongside intoxication. It does not need to end the stay, because every one of the 50 rooms has a hinoki or stone bath of its own fed free-flowing from the inn’s two private sources, and many rooms add an open-air tub as well. The room bath is the whole plan here, not a consolation. What you give up is Hono-no-yu, the blue bath the inn is known for, and the Kannawa steam bath beside it.
Show this at the front desk
※泥酔者および、タトゥー・刺青（入れ墨）をされている方の大浴場ご利用はお断りしております。
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
Two sources rise on the grounds and nothing is added to either, so every one of the fifty rooms has a hinoki or stone bath running free-flowing, and a good many add an open-air tub outside it. The room list names which: the three detached special rooms, the detached Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms, the eight annex rooms, and rooms 502, 503, 505/506, 507 and 508 in the Sora wing. Main-building rooms have the indoor hinoki bath only. The water is a sodium and calcium chloride and sulfate spring carrying 220 mg of metasilicic acid.
What a tattooed guest gives up is Hono-no-yu and the Kannawa steam bath beside it. That is one indoor tub and one open-air tub per side and no sauna, and the inn notes that the blue water can come up clear on some days depending on the weather and the temperature.
Shared bathing runs 15:00 to 23:00 and 06:30 to 10:00. Photography is not allowed in the large bath or its changing room. Bathing tax is 250 yen a head, or 500 above 50,001 yen a night.
The hotel
Fifty rooms on a wooded slope by the Onsen Jinja, with a Noh stage and a thatched tea room standing in the grounds and a wellness program run alongside the kitchen. The Sora wing is the newer building: nine of its rooms have the indoor bath only and eleven have both. Parking is free, with two EV chargers on a first-come basis.
What is good about it
- Two sources on the property, nothing added, and a bath in all fifty rooms.
- Rooms 502, 503, 505/506, 507 and 508 add an open-air tub, as do the detached rooms and the eight in the annex.
- A free shuttle from Beppu STN, out at 14:30, 15:30, 16:30 and 17:30, back at 09:00, 10:00 and 11:00, booked the day before.
Getting there
Twenty minutes by taxi from JR Beppu STN, five minutes on foot from the Kannawaguchi bus stop, five minutes by car from the Beppu interchange. The free guest shuttle leaves from the east exit of Beppu Station and takes about thirty minutes.
Kamegawa STN · JR Nippo line; buses from Beppu STN stop at Kannawaguchi
Five minutes on foot from the Kannawaguchi bus stop.
Free shuttle from the east exit of Beppu STN, four departures from 14:30, reserved by the previous day.
Where it is
Hakata STN
JR Sonic limited express 1 h 55
Kokura STN
Oita STN
✈Oita Airport
Hotel locationKamegawa STN
What happens when you arrive
Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the bath page, under 風呂利用条件)
Read on: kannawaen.jp/hot_spring.html
Best for: A guest who accepts losing the famous blue bath in exchange for a private hinoki tub running all night
Two on-site sources, no water and no steam added. The room list is explicit about which rooms add an open-air bath: the three detached special rooms, the detached Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms, the eight annex rooms, and rooms 502, 503, 505/506, 507 and 508 in the Sora wing. Main-building rooms have the indoor hinoki bath only. Nine Sora-wing rooms are indoor-bath only and eleven have both. The Noh stage and the thatched tea room are on the grounds.
Check availabilityBooking through this button costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way — it’s what keeps this guide free for our tattoo community, and every policy on it checked. Thank you.